The present invention relates to a decorative building shutter for mounting on a wall surface. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved plastic batten shutter.
Decorative building panels, such as shutters, are widely used in the building industry to add character to a house or other type of building structure. Additionally, decorative building panels are frequently installed on existing structures to change the appearance of the structure. A popular type of building panel that is used is a window shutter. These shutters, which are typically not functional, present a decorative facade that gives the appearance of being a functional shutter.
One popular style of shutter is commonly referred to as a batten shutter. The batten shutter includes a plurality of batten slats arranged vertically in a row. At least one, and usually two, cross slats overlay each of the batten slats. The cross slats adjoin the batten slats forming the batten shutter assembly. A simulated plastic batten shutter commonly includes slats having a decorative surface and flanges projecting rearward from the surface creating a hollow slat that gives the appearance of being a complete wooden slat. While the plastic materials reduce the cost of producing the batten shutter, connecting the slats together is a labor intensive and costly operation.
One such example is U.S. Pat. No.4,184,300 to Deschamps. Deschamps discloses a batten shutter having plastic batten slats with decorative surface and side flanges. Each batten slat is affixed to a cross slat with pin. Utilizing pins to connect the batten slats to the cross slats adds cost and assembly time due to the increased number of parts required for assembly.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a batten shutter that is simple to produce and yet presents the appearance of being assembled from real wood.
The present invention discloses a decorative shutter assembly having a plurality of batten slats arranged in a row and connected together by at least one cross slat. Each batten slat presents a batten decorative surface having side batten flanges projecting rearward. Each cross slat overlays the batten slats and presents a decorative cross surface with side cross flanges projecting rearward. Each cross slat includes at least one mating member affixed behind the cross-decorative surface with a mating wall affixed to each of the batten decorative surfaces. The slats are affixed to the mating member by sonic welding or heat welding. Each of the slats includes end plugs at each end to present a finished appearance of being a complete wooden board.
The inventive batten shutter provides a simple design that is easily produced and presents the appearance of being made from wooden boards. The mating member maximizes the amount of extrusion processing that can be utilized enabling a single extruder to be used for both the cross slats and the batten slats by providing a mating surface to the batten slats. Further, hiding the mating surface behind the cross slat provides the ability to form an attachment point from either a sonic weld or a heat weld.